Twilight at Dawn
by Vanillacider
Summary: Twilight decides to make today special.


Twilight at Dawn

Twilight opened her eyes. The bed was so comfortable. She didn't want to get up, and considered for a moment just staying in bed all morning. She had never really liked the morning. So cold, empty, and fuzzy. The only reason she had ever become accustomed to getting up so early was the fact that she had places to be, and she hated being late.

She sighed, and rolled out of bed. Today would be a day, just like any other. She would go around, making sure that everything was running smoothly. Check on her friends, clean up the library, and study. Nothing much ever seemed to happen.

Twilight decided that today would be different. She would find something to do that would make today special. The only thing she could think of was learning a new spell. As hard as she thought, she couldn't think of anything better to do. _Oh well,_ she thought. _I can at least think of an interesting spell to learn._

Spike was away on business, and she had to take the books off of the shelves by herself. She flipped through them, checking each of the titles. "Advanced levitation… No… Temporary transfiguration… No… Illusions, a Guide to Disguising the Obvious… Eh, not interesting enough. Oh, come on. There has to be something around here that is a fun spell!"

She paced around the library, picking books off of the shelves at random, throwing them down a second later when she realized that she had already read them. Twilight wanted to kick something. She had read most of the books here. But there was one.

The book was gargantuan, over two feet wide, and with thousands upon thousands of pages. It was a compilation of all of the most difficult spells in Ponydom. She took it out of the special place in the advanced reading section. The pages were thick, rough, and yellowed.

She opened up to the table of contents. She was satisfied to see that all of the spells were of the most advanced sort. She picked a simple one to start. Seeing of the truth.

She opened up to the page and read. "The use of this spell allows a pony to see when things are being hidden from her. This potent magic will wear off after around twenty-three hours. Until this time, it is recommended that the user does not look directly into a crowd, or to a place where things are known to be hidden." The instructions went on to list spells that it could be confused with.

She didn't care. This spell would be just what she needed! She could use it, then tell anypony that they were lying, and laugh at them when they were, and knew it. More importantly, she could find out what all of the other ponies thought of her.

Twilight didn't know much about the stuff, but she decided that she would have some fun with this. She started the spell. It was long, filling up two whole pages. The execution itself was simple. It required barely any energy, since she was the subject of her own magic.

Twilight felt her vision go black. Her horn flashed, temporarily blinding her. She passed out for a second. In her dark stupor, she saw a vision of her parents waving to her cheerfully. As they faded, their faces grew panicked, and they cried out soundlessly to her. As she was about to call back to them, they vanished.

She stood up as soon as she could. _That was just a dream, _she thought. _Nothing to worry about. _She gazed around the room. Nothing seemed different. She looked up at one of the ceiling windows. There was something different.

In the place of the sun was the eye of Princess Celestia. She was staring directly at Twilight. Twilight didn't know what to do. She knew that Celestia had some kind of ability to see past the walls of the castle, but not that kind of power.

Already, she was learning some very interesting things about her acquaintances. She walked out into the street, gazing at all of the other ponies. Then she knew. Bon Bon and Lyra were secretly having sex anytime they could be alone, even though on the surface, they were just friends. Berry Punch had an extreme addiction to alcohol. She had to have a bottle at least every night or she would have problems. Cherilee loved the colts a bit too much in the wrong ways. Scootaloo was teaching Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle the lessons that should be taught to them by their parents, along with hooves-on examples.

She was indeed learning some very interesting things. She decided to meet her friends at Sugarcube Corner a bit early. She walked in, and was greeted by a bouncing Pinkie Pie. "Hiyee! Hey Twilight! You want to make some cupcakes?"

Twilight stared. The word cupcakes registered in her mind. It meant something else to Pinkie. Visions of blood, knives, and an operating room in the basement flooded her mind.

"Umm… I have to go, Pinkie." Twilight stared in shock. The Pinkie she knew really had a passion for torturing other ponies to death? She couldn't stay here any longer. She would have to write to Celestia, and have Pinkie taken by secret arrest…

"Twilight! What's wrong?" Pinkie advanced on Twilight. "I thought we were friends!"

"Oh… Yes… We are… But I actually have to go…" She turned around to gallop away. She ran into Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. She stared. She wanted to tear out her eyes because of what she saw.

Applejack secretly loathed her family. She was only a step away from killing them. She had all of the weapons ready. She had a strap-on cock with bits of broken glass stuck on it for Apple Bloom, and a vice clamp fixed with nails for Big Mac. All she needed was a reason. She also was dealing alcohol out of her apple cellar. She was targeting ponies that she knew were already alcoholic, bullying them into buying her drinks by threatening to turn them in.

It was because of Applejack's actions that Berry Punch was irreversibly addicted to alcohol. She would remain in Applejack's hoof until the day that one of them died.

Rainbow Dash was secretly suicidal, hating herself. All of the bravado and showing off was to counteract the possibility that anypony would find out. She hated her stunts. She knew that she would never become one of the Wonderbolts. She loved her friends just enough to stay alive.

The shell that she showed the world was crumbling. She didn't have much energy left to continue the façade. Any day now, they would all wake up and Rainbow Dash would have "forgotten" to slow down before she landed.

Rarity was dealing. Drugs. Several of the most prominent stallions in Equestria depended on her ability to smuggle cocaine products in boxes labeled as clothing. She had a plan. She already had enough money to retire and be financially secure for the rest of her life. She planned to kill them all by lacing the drugs with a concentrated form of poison joke, and watch them die a miserable yet hilarious death.

She was right when she had first arrived in Ponyville. All of the ponies in this town were crazy. She concentrated energy in her horn, and vanished in a burst of light.

Fluttershy was tending to her business as usual. Hummingway was sick again, and she had him in bed. She was just delivering a fresh flower to his side when Twilight exploded into the room. She flew under the table.

"Fluttershy! I know that you're under the table, and I need your help!"

Fluttershy crawled out from underneath the table. "Oh, hey Twilight, what's wrong?" She gazed at Twilight inquiringly.

It was just as Twilight feared. Fluttershy had her own secrets. Secrets involving the more masculine aspects of large stallions. Secrets involving diseases for which the doctors had no cure. Secrets about how long she had left, and what she planned on doing if she was about to die… revolving around the few small, extremely sharp knives in her kitchen.

Twilight vanished as quickly as she arrived.

"No… It can't be." Twilight paced back and forth in the library. She had seen what she had seen. She knew that it was true, since there was no doubt in each of her friend's minds. All she knew now was that she had to find a way to get out of here, get out of here now, before they found her, or else she…

"Twilight? Are you in there?" Rarity was knocking on the door to the library.

_Oh no, it's her! She wants to do things to me, to make my last moments hell…_

"Okay, Twilight, we're just going to let ourselves in! We're all here, and we want you to know that we're here for you."

Twilight turned to her final option. She looked to her desk.

Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash shoved their way into the library. They looked around anxiously, and saw her on the ground. "Twilight!"

Twilight was bleeding profusely from the neck. Beside her lay a quill with blood covering the point.

Pinkie galloped up to her and kneeled next to her. She pushed her hoof against the wound, trying to stem the flow. "Twilight! Stay with me, okay?" She looked at Rainbow. "Get a doctor or something!"

Rainbow Dash flew out of the room.

Pinkie turned back to Twilight. "Look. Just keep looking at me. Don't close your eyes. Please." The others stood by, helpless.

Twilight looked at Pinkie, true terror on her face. "Pinkie… I…" Her eyes glazed over, and she fell back against the ground. She spoke no more.

Pinkie gazed into her eyes. "Twilight? No! Please! Don't die on me now, please! We need you here… Oh, please say something, Twilight…"

Celestia stood in the library. Luna stood next to her. Recent tears were obvious on their faces. They were looking at a book. A large, old book with yellowed pages. "So why do you think she did it, sister? Surely the secrets of the ponies in _this _hamlet were not horrifying enough to justify a suicide."

Celestia shook her head. "It was not the secrets of this town. She messed up while casting the spell." She nudged the warning section of the book. The first, most imperious warning was written in red ink. "It says that if the caster lacks the resolve to cast such a spell, then it may cause a spell of hallucination. The user will see the worst thought that anypony has ever thought, twisted into a situation befitting each pony."

"So you mean…?"

"Yes. Twilight Sparkle fell victim to her own haste."


End file.
